I was born in Los Angeles on February 5, 1957, graduated
from the University of California, Berkeley in 1979, and
received a fellowship to Worcester College, Oxford, the
following year, with an M.A. in English Literature from
the UCLA in 1981.
After graduation, I moved to New York, where I worked as
a stringer for Reuters, International, then in Newsweek
Magazine's letter department, before being hired as a
proofreader at Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine. I was
the magazine's first staff writer, and became senior
editor the following year, conducting hundreds of
interviews with figures well known in film, television,
books, fine art, politics, design and science. In 1985,
I quit my job and spent most of following decade as an
itinerant dharma bum and freelance journalist, traveling
between Europe, India, and the United States. Shifting
professional gears from pop culture to psychology,
philosophy and religion, I was a contributing editor to
Common Boundary Magazine, where my back page column, The
Naked Eye, appeared from 1994-1999. I received a
National Magazine Award nomination for "America's
Darkest Secret" (about the epidemic of incest in the
U.S.) and published essays in numerous magazines,
including The New Yorker, Details, O: The Oprah
Magazine, Tricycle, The Utne Reader, AARP Magazine, Out,
Good Housekeeping, and Harper's Bazaar.
After working with Sogyal Rimpoche on The Tibetan Book
of Living and Dying, I collaborated with religious
writer Andrew Harvey on Dialogues With A Modern Mystic
(interviewing Harvey for Britain's Channel One
documentary of the same name). My first book, Sex Death
Enlightenment: A True Story (1996) became an
international bestseller published in ten countries and
nominated for two Books for a Better Life Awards. Having
served as co-editor on Ram Dass's book, Still Here, I
published my second memoir in 2000, The Boy He Left
Behind: A Man's Search for His Lost Father (Los Angeles
Times Discovery Book, Randy Shilts Award, excerpted in
the Sunday supplement of the London Guardian). I’ve
taught creative non-fiction writing at Manhattanville
College and published essays in numerous anthologies,
including Wrestling With the Angel, Voices of the
Millenium, A Memory, A Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer,
Oprah's Best Life. I am also a contributing editor to O:
The Oprah Magazine, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review and a
frequent blogger for The Huffington Post. My most recent
book is When You're Falling, Dive: Lessons in the Art of
Living (2008). Also, I’m collaborating with Eve Ensler
as the Creative Director of V-Men (the male arm of VDay,
Ensler's organization for ending violence against women
and girls) and curate their online essay series (www.vday.com).
Currently, I am at work on a performance piece called
"Ten Ways To Be a Man," which will serve as V-Men’s
artistic vehicle and will premier in September, 2011.
Ethical Wisdom: What Makes Us Good will be published
this spring by Doubleday.
